Building Wealth with Silver. Thomas Herold

of money she was allowed to spend for different things. My father also got his monthly allowance and I always wondered how he could ever be satisfied with the little money he got.

      The Concept of Paying Yourself First

      In one of the first get rich books I encountered a new radical idea: The concept of paying yourself first. That was a slap to my face as I never ever had considered paying myself first.

      Money came in and immediately went to the most pressing bills and expenses first, and anything left over was good enough. However, I learned quickly that if you don’t follow this pattern, you will never have anything to invest.

      It took a while to understand that all investing comes from what you can pay yourself first, not something that may or may not be left over from paying others first. The truth of the matter was, I seldom had any money left over for investing in my future even during the times I earned a lot. I had trained myself to spend it all, updating my living situation or car or something else and by the end of the month, there was indeed nothing left in my account to save or invest.

      Like most people, I also strongly held the belief that saving (investing) money is not a good idea because it does not allow for instant gratification, which seemed to me to be a cornerstone of personal happiness. I was basically doing nothing more than reacting to my parents' own financial belief system. For them it was all about saving so I just did the opposite – I spent everything. I felt very good about it – I really believed this is it – I am on the right track.

      Finally I realized that without paying myself first, there would never be enough money left in my account to save and invest. More realizations popped into my head. I also came to the conclusion that time is limited and that if I based by work on getting paid by the hour, my income would always be likewise limited. That definitely did not feel good.

      Imagine making only what you can command in terms of the hours you spend on the job! There had to be a better way.

      The Future of All Business Will Be in Cyber Space

      There was, and this turned out to be an excellent reason to invest the time needed to establish an online business that allows us to replicate a product instantly without further demands. In this way, time is invested wisely once but has big payoffs that quickly multiply the return on this investment. The idea is pure genius.

      No wonder Bill Gates made billions with it. There is no limit on how often you can replicate a program, which also means there is no limit to your income.

      Paying ourselves first was the most crucial and important step into shifting our mindset. It was the start of financial education and I see now after five years of intensive research on this topic that getting a solid financial education is one of the most important tasks an intelligent person can undertake.

      Being financially educated means that we now make more money from our investment accounts than from our business income. Our next step will be to convert some of these cash flow incomes into assets that pay us residual income over time. It was in our initial search of these residual income options that we came to understand how all the pieces of the money puzzle had fallen into place.

      Why Am I Telling You Our Story?

      We want to help you create your own success story by understanding ours. Very simply, we probably had fewer start-up resources than you have right now. You are probably in a better position than we were when we started. But sometimes the oddest things can turn out to be wonderful resources. You see, I may have a slight advantage over you in an unexpected way.

      I was kicked out of school when I was 18 years old. Why would that be an advantage? Simply because I have had the benefit of a few more years of creative freedom when it comes to problem solving and a few less years of the rigid indoctrination each of us undergoes in the public education system. Perhaps I ended up with less garbage to clear out of my head. Perhaps I had fewer filters that imposed limiting beliefs on my mindset.

      In any event, I learned sooner than most that for any good idea to become successful in the world, a certain amount of original thinking as well as some dissatisfaction were both essential ingredients in getting those ideas out into the world where they could do the most good for myself and for others.

      After my first internship with a major electronic company I realized rather quickly that continuing along this avenue would not bring me happiness and satisfaction in life.

      Even getting another two years of education in electronics and computer science, things I really enjoyed, would not guarantee me solid employment let alone rapid advancement. Realizing this, I started my first company when I was in electronics school.

      If you are employed or even self-employed your income is limited and you are also in a high tax bracket. The goal is to become a business owner and an investor. Both distinguish themselves from the usual employment roles by providing potential capital gains and cash flow, things employment alone cannot provide.

      In the following chapters I will help you lay the groundwork for preparing yourself to take advantage of one of the biggest transfer of wealth transfers in human history.

      You can be part of it and create huge capital gains.

      It will require a certain ability to take a chance now and then, a solid education in how the marketplace functions, a commitment to learn from your mistakes and a deep understanding in your own strengths and ability to handle change.

      The middle class will soon be wiped out and you need to make a choice if you want to be poor or rich.

      If you do not make this decision on your own, most likely you will end up being poor because a decision will be made for you by someone else.

      Chapter 2

      Forget What You Think You Know Now – The New Rules of Money

      "The process by which banks create money is so simple that the mind is repelled." - John Kenneth Galbraith

      This first chapter may be shocking and disturbing to you. You may feel your stomach in knots by the time you have finished reading it. You will come to understand that money is no longer really money at all but something that has been turned into worthless, debt-ridden currency.

      Pull out your wallet and take a look at bill. Whether it's a dollar or ten or a twenty, it has no longer intrinsic value. It is nothing other than debt, which you owe to someone else, like it or not.

      The banknote you hold in your hand is not even worth the few pennies the ink costs to print it.

      It's time for a paradigm shift in your perceptions around money. It's a powerful story, this tale of how our money came to be worthless. It may take you a few days to digest this information and to understand the true consequences of what has happened.

      Read this entire chapter as often as you need. Do not read further until you have grasped the concept of what has happened to your money.

      1931 – The Birth of the Fed and Beginning of the End

      It may come as a surprise to you to learn that the Federal Reserve is not the original Central Bank of the United States. In fact, it is really the third Central Bank in the history of the U.S. The First Bank of the United States existed from 1791 to 1811. The Second Bank of the United States had a similar 20 year reign from 1816 to 1836.

      Both banks engaged in commercial loans, took in deposits, issued currency, and bought securities. The two banks also contained a number of regional branches and performed fiscal agent duties on behalf of the United States Treasury. The biggest difference between these first two central banks and the Federal Reserve Bank lay in the fact that these other two central banks were 80 percent privately held, with stockholders voting